Wednesday, November 18

Owl in Cowl


I used to buy a lot of tiny glass ornaments for the shop at this time of year, and a stray box of owls that had never been put out for sale showed up recently. They can't be sold now, because they aren't old enough to be vintage, and I didn't make them myself.

So while reading the discussion boards the other day, another of the long threads complaining about how Etsy loves owls and cowls for the front page... an idea started sort of swimming around for these tiny glass owls I'd found. How about a good luck charm? An owl with a cowl is sure to be good luck towards getting on the front page?

I'm thinking it would be along the same lines as the worry dolls. The story goes, if you give the doll your worries before going to bed, the worry dolls take your troubles away while you sleep. So if you placed an owl with a cowl good luck charm next to your computer, and asked him nicely to "wish" you on the front page, doesn't it stand to reason this would work?

The prototype owl with a cowl is pocket sized, stands just under 1 1/2" tall, so he won't take up much space on your desk. Now all I need is a volunteer to try this out. I don't know if it will work for me, so need to get an impartial tester. If you'd like to be the judge of this possibly amazing new good luck charm, let me know in comments.

Thank you

Monday, September 28

Mama said there'd be days like this...

I was so pleased with myself for getting so much done this weekend, and then...

Yesterday, the glaze firing went perfectly. See the firing cone on the left, this is exactly how it is supposed to look at the end of the fire. Bent over lightly kissing the floor of the kiln. The items from this first firing came out gorgeous, a new glaze I used really surprised and delighted me on one little Sake set (will have proper pictures later), and pretty much everything else turned out just the way I wanted it to also.


Today's firing....the cone on the right completely melted to the kiln floor and even took off a layer of the actual kiln when I removed it! I have never seen anything like this, and can't imagine how I over-fired by this much. I am the "kiln sitter" for the small test kiln I use for the miniatures, and normally, I am watching/paying attention to the actual hours besides using a wind-up timer. Must have lost track of time some how...

Good firing...

Bad firing...

The bad news to me is, most of the best vases were in today's "bad" firing. The good news is...I think most of the pieces can be saved with new glaze and re-firing. Not sure though...because the clay itself turned into something else. The little trays I had with the melted glass warped, and the glaze on almost everything sort of melted off. Will be giving it a try tomorrow and hope for the best.

Tuesday, September 15

Miniature Cats and Their Afghans!

I am very slow getting this post up, because I've had it on my plans for weeks now! Earlier I showed my fabulous cat family that my friend Hanna made for me in miniature, but I hadn't shared that now these precious babies all have their own afghans (just like the real cat family does), made by Frieda of Willowscreations.

These pictures are not the best, and I will also be recovering the furniture in plain colors later, but this is the best I can do to simulate a real scene in my livingroom, (the real livingroom), as it often is with the cats and their own personal afghans.



You can click on these pictures to get a larger version! Just found that out right now, when I tried it :)


Frieda makes all sorts of lovely crocheted miniatures, and you can see a few from her shop in this Etsy mini:



Hanna makes all kinds of animals, and you can see in the Etsy mini for her here:

Dollhouse Project

A few weeks ago I decided to finally put together a dollhouse kit I've had sitting around gathering dust for several years. The kit is called The Buttercup, and looked really easy if you follow the instructions and put it together the way it's supposed to go.




Looks really cute, doesn't it? How about the inside...look how it could be! I wasn't planning to make a shop out of this kit, but it would be great this way.



Well...first I did start putting it together the proper way, with the instructions. I got it basically put together, then got out a dollhouse scale doll because a couple of things were bothering me about the shell of this house. First, she had no way to get upstairs, because there was no stairs, and even if there were a set of stairs (which I decided to steal from the other dollhouse kit I have still in the box), once she got there, she couldn't stand up! So even though I'm a complete novice on building a dollhouse, I was going for a remodeling job right away. This is the start of my changes...


I let it sit this way for a couple of days, kept looking and thinking about this, and finally decided my altering just wasn't going to work, so I took it apart. The mangled kit pieces are back in the box now, and I got a new plan :)

One night when I was browsing the miniature listings on eBay, I found this fabulous roombox/house!





Isn't it fabulous? I won! I have this little house now, and though it won't be a living room/kitchen/everything room....eventually I think it's the kitchen, it's a great way for a beginner to start! I will use this as my livingroom setting for now, and build on to it later.

Next post will be a long awaited picture of the cat family with their own afghans :)

Wednesday, August 19

Attitudes change, but it's still a thrill!

I used to say that you know you've made it as a potter (ceramic artist) when someone decides the piece you sold them is worth more than they paid for it, and they sell it at auction. My views on this have changed since I became a miniaturist, because now I don't want people to resell the things I make, I want all of the best doll houses in the world to feature a piece I made :)

This post is about my old view though, because while browsing the pottery category on eBay tonight, I saw a listing for pottery that I/we (husband and I) made. It was a thrill to see it for sale, and I had the "We have arrived!" moment ♥
Only that pottery line only lasted about a year, so we arrived long after we already "went" on that.

My husband had his own full size pottery business with many regular commissions. His style was sculpture on functional pieces. His main account was for the Indian Hills Trading Post in Indian Hills, Colorado. This is the sign going into Indian Hills, and most of the tourist trade items had some version of these Indians on them.



A combination of things caused my husband to quit making his pottery. The main reason was when the Trading Post burned down and his biggest account was over. Around the same time, we closed the shop Mostly Art, and moving all the store fixtures home for storage took away any space for studio work. Still, I tried to get him interested in some kind of pottery work again, so thought of doing a line with him. For a brief time, about a year or so, we were going to be the Artus and Anna Van Briggle of our generation :) I was really into glazing with Arts & Crafts style matte glaze at the time, and figured his sculpture would transfer well into the style too. We never really got going with this pottery line though, only a few hundred pieces. His heart wasn't really in it, and I missed working in miniature.

This eBay listing has better pictures than I have of these vases, but I'm going to put my pictures in here too, because the listing won't be permanent.




The seller in the auction left off the "B" in his title of the listing, so he didn't know that "B" was really part of the name. The "B" stands for Barmore (me), and the actual bee is still my signature. My father-in-law had a hand in naming this pottery too. Van means "from" in Dutch, and Sterk (my husband's name) is also Dutch for "strong", I thought it was a great name for our business at the time :) a combination of our names that really said something too. Well, maybe the Barmore part doesn't really "say" something, it's Welsh, and I don't know what it means, but there is a place in Wales called Barmore ;)

Years later, I found out that I was copying someone else with a very similar name to mine with the bee signature. I had a mini-vacation at the Broadmoor Hotel (who also made Arts & Crafts pottery many years ago) and they had little fabric bees all over everything (bee for their "B" and Barmore and Broadmoor sound much the same). I think it's funny that I copied without even knowing I did, so kept my bee too ♥


**************

Next post on this poor neglected blog will be about miniatures again....probably about the doll house I started putting together a few days ago.

Sunday, July 19

Fabulous Feline Family!

I finally have the answer! When I've filled out interview questions, or surveys that have the question, "what is your most treasured possession?", I never know what to say. I have usually just said photographs, but in this day and age, even photographs can be replaced. This cat family, (my family), is to be treasured as the most valuable possession I have, and I am still a little overwhelmed at the enormity of this gift ♥



This fabulous feline family was created for me by my friend Hanna. The thoughtfulness of this is just so huge, I cannot even express myself how touched I am. My human family never quite grasps how important my babies are to me, they all kind of joke and tease me about it. Well, maybe the baby books are a little over the top....but for Hanna to think of doing this for me, making everyone in miniature, is just beyond special. And she caught their personalities too! The miniature Isabella couldn't be more perfect, looks just like her, mini Valentino has the smile the real Valentino keeps on his face, Ingrid is oh so elegant, Leo has the same big eyes, Shirley with her short little tail that is almost manx like...

:::inserting a million smiles here:::

Hanna has recently opened a shop on Etsy with other miniature animals she is making, and "this and that" of other miniature items. You can see her shop here:
Hanna's Shop



She also has the most exciting blog talking about her life with miniatures, you can check it out here: Hanna's Blog

Monday, June 29

Featured Artist: MaidOfClay

I just read this fantastic blog interview with one of my all time favorite artisans, Felicia Nilson. (as I just wrote this sentence, I realized I may have spelled Felicia's name wrong earlier today, I'm so sorry if I did! will go see if I can edit my post)


Here's the link to the interview:
http://phydelle.blogspot.com/2009/06/handmade-artists-maid-of-clay.html

There is so much there! Even a video of Felicia working :) I have been a fan of MaidOfClay since my early days of Etsy, because she shares my love of Arts & Crafts pottery, and much of her body of work is in this style. Gave me an instant connection when I saw her shop.

We both belong to the Mud Team of Etsy, and have had many conversations over the past year or two about the pottery we love, and I thought of her shop first for a recent gift I needed.

Oh! I also own a very cute bunny dish that holds my paperclips on my work desk, and one of the gorgeous lady pendants that is hanging in front of me right at this moment. I am inspired by this lovely woman/artist, and was thrilled to read the fabulous interview.

You should read it too!

Monday, June 22

Ceramic Erin: Survey: potter John Bauman

Ceramic Erin: Survey: potter John Bauman

I just read this fantastic survey on the blog linked above. I just love this guy's words ♥ Wish I could express myself so well! I especially liked this part:

"We notice everything pottery. In the background scenery of a movie set, in a commercial on TV, we'll notice the pots.
If we walk into a strange place and there happens to be a hand-thrown piece in the room, little else occupies our mind – at least until we’ve had the chance to pick that piece up, feel its heft, and look beneath it. It calls our attention like an overheard conversation that sounds more interesting than the one in which we’re currently engaged...
"Oh, excuse me. Did you say something?”

So true! So true!

The whole article is worth reading. Good job, and what a great guy too!

Monday, June 15

New Issue is out!

The new issue of Artisans in Miniature is out! Great online magazine, best read (for me anyway), when you download it in Scribd



Artisans in Miniature Artisans in Miniature All About AIM New directory title page MAY's AIM MAGAZINE!! Magazine Help & Information Magazine Archive... Join the AIM Association... Fair date page 2009 Contact us... Helpful Links...
AIM...

"An association of professional international artisans,

dedicated to promoting a high standard of excellence

in original handcrafted scale miniatures."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'Summer' edition of the AIM magazine is now online...!Website last updated: 02.06.09


Online AIM magazine - Summer 2009 - Issue 13

'NEW LOOK' AIM DIRECTORY, now it is even easier to find your favourite artisans!!!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bringing you the best in Dollshouse Miniatures, Miniature Foods,Scale Miniatures, Miniature Flowers, Food in Miniature, Miniature Dolls and Figurines, Miniature Paintings, Dollshouses and Accessories, 1/12th, 1/24th, 1/48th, 1/144th, AIM online Magazine, AIM, Artisans In Miniature, Free projects, Free fimo projects, Half scale, Quarter scale, Miniatura, Kensington Dolls House Festival, AIM Directory, Dolls houses... So why not bookmark us today?

New Member's pages added for...

Lili Goczal
Wilga van den Wijngaart
Barbara Stanton
Sandra Croft
ChristaChayata
By Annemarie Dolls
Susanne Russo
Anya Stone
Literature In Miniature
Piskies & Poppets
Jane Harrop
Dorys Barahona
Philippa Todd
Jenny Wren
Costume Calalcade
Linda Cummings
NJD Miniatures
Cristina Alberti
Beatrice Thierus

Monday, June 8

Remembering Slavko



Every now and then someone passes through your life that truly touches your soul. Slavko was one of these special people. I am not good about putting my feelings into words sometimes, but wanted to have a permanant post somewhere as a tribute to this very special man.

He will be personally missed by many of us, and I hope his art will continue to inspire millions forever.


Slavko's website
Slavko on Etsy
Storque article on Etsy

Friday, June 5

Miniature Teapot Project

Many years ago, I worked for a mail order company making miniature objects of all sorts. One of the projects I had was hundreds, and hundreds of miniature teapots. My husband made me molds of the teapots so that I could make many of them at once. The teapots for the project did not have to be functional, only cute, so what I did back then was just make the basic teapot from a mold, then paint the bisque piece with colorful designs in acrylic.

Fast forward to my new obsession with all things scale miniature, and finding these molds was a very exciting day! This time, I plan to make the teapots properly, with real glaze and carved designs. Not as easy as I thought it would be...what happened to the claim that slip-casting was fast?

I broke at least a dozen of the clay teapots when I first tried to carve on them. The handles were the first to go. I wanted the teapots to be "true" scale, knowing that the handles on the basic teapot would be far too thick and wide for a hand to actually get around if it was really in scale of one inch = one foot. So the first two that did make it to completion have new handles. My second breakage came from trying to make the spout functional. I broke a lot of spouts this way, and finally figured out to just chop off the molded spout and make a new one.

Still, the first two teapots did not end up functional. The spouts cannot pour on the two teapots in the left of the picture. The second two teapots were not designed to have a real handle, (the molds had a formed handle I just painted to give the illusion of a handle), so I made holes for a wire handle to go through. I have not been able to get a non-kinked wire handle on these two teapots yet. I have tried 3 different kinds of wire so far, but they have all been too tough to manipulate once they are on the teapot. I have some very thin copper wire that will be the next experimental handle on the two teapots in the right of the picture. I am using the #3 bugle bead as a handle on the wire to be more like a real teapot. These two teapots are functional :)

This is one of those getting side-tracked days. I started out thinking I would be taking pictures and listing the vases I made last week. That was really a couple of days ago...because the side-tracking from that was deciding some of the vases really needed flowers first. So I put off picture taking and started making flowers. Then, I just couldn't stop thinking about, and trying to fix the wire on the two teapots that need a separate handle.....that's how it goes so often. I don't stay focused on the task at hand, and feel all over the place on what I "should" be doing, and go do something else instead.

(new listings will be done soon, at least the poor neglected blog got a new post today ♥)

Thursday, May 21

I have been tagged!

I have been tagged by De, of De-Lightful Minis. Here is her blog: http://delightfulminis.blogspot.com/ I'm sorry for taking so long to fill this out De, I got side-tracked the day I was going to do it.

So this is how tag works:

1. Name and link back to the person who tagged you.
See above. Be sure to visit De's blog. She has been making a dollhouse at the speed of light, is so organized that she really does blog almost every day with the new things she's doing, and she mentions other miniaturists often with her updates. That's really a nice touch, no wonder she is gathering up so many blog awards lately ♥

2.List 6 unimportant things that make you happy. That's harder - if it makes me happy is it really unimportant? (this comment was a direct quote from De's own tag, but isn't it true?)

•My littlest one sleeping with me
•Morning coffee
•Songs coming on the radio that make me dance/sing
•Seeing the sunrise by myself, like I got a special gift all my own
•The chance to play in a Summer rain shower
•The color yellow

3. Tag 6 bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blogs. Off to go tag some friends.

Note: If I tag you and you don't want to participate, I won't be upset. I understand that we all have busy lives and you might not have time for this. ♥

Crystal Cave!

I have been using a crystal rock for background in my pictures for the past couple of years. One reason is because everyone is such a good photographer on Etsy, and they all do "arty" type pictures. I don't have the best imagination for art photographs, nor the skill to take such fantastic pictures as so many do. I did like the look of having this particular crystal rock in pictures though, and it serves other purpose besides being pretty.

It helps show scale of things, or it did, before I show you this Crystal Cave :) It helps me adjust the color of the shots since they almost always come out of the camera darker than they should, and the crystal turns pink. If I can get the pink out of the crystal, it's usually a pretty good chance all the other color is close to reality too.

I'm just joking around about not being able to use this crystal for scale anymore, because there is apparently only this one Crystal Cave in the whole world. Or maybe there are more that just haven't been discovered?




Giant Crystal Cave

A sort of south-of-the-border Fortress of Solitude, Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) contains some of the world's largest known natural crystals—translucent beams of gypsum as long as 36 feet (11 meters).

How did the crystals reach such superheroic proportions?

In the new issue of the journal Geology, García-Ruiz reports that for millennia the crystals thrived in the cave's extremely rare and stable natural environment. Temperatures hovered consistently around a steamy 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius), and the cave was filled with mineral-rich water that drove the crystals' growth.

Modern-day mining operations exposed the natural wonder by pumping water out of the 30-by-90-foot (10-by-30-meter) cave, which was found in 2000 near the town of Delicias (Chihuahua state map). Now García-Ruiz is advising the mining company to preserve the caves.

"There is no other place on the planet," García-Ruiz said, "where the mineral world reveals itself in such beauty."

Read the full story of the new discovery.

Saturday, May 16

Pretty Tulips



Found these two pictures in my camera when I was getting ready to take pictures for new listings. These are my neighbors tulips, my favorite shade/kind of tulips. These are the type I have in my mind when I'm making tulips for the tiny vases, and it is normally the color scheme I prefer to do too :)

Back to taking pictures of the miniatures...

Tuesday, May 12

Not the best carpenters...

Oh my gosh, I can't believe how long everything takes! Silly me thought this cat fence would take 2-3 hours in an afternoon. Well, we are on our third day if you count shopping for the materials, and we still have a lot to do tomorrow.

Just making a note here, because I am tied up with this fence project, and not doing any of the work I should have been doing at night. I have been too tired, not very used to physical labor anymore, so it is wiping me out.

I did get flower making supplies all set out last night with the intent to make a few for vases that were finished last week. That's as far as I got though, looked at the things and decided to go to bed instead ;)

Will hopefully get back on track with normal things by tomorrow night. The cats are going crazy, wish I knew what they were all saying. I have a feeling it's something like "no, no! you are ruining everything!" as they watch from the windows, and cry and cry....

I am telling them it's a castle being built just for them, and nobody else has such a fine thing as they will have when it's finished.

Saturday, May 9

Thank you!


I received a blog award from De, at Delightful Minis

Thank you De! I really need to get out and catch up on my blog reading now too :)

Weekend Project

I live in the best neighborhood in Denver. Not richest, unless you count your riches differently than most people, which I think I am doing by this statement. The house itself is just an ordinary 1950s Ranch style, nothing special, but it's where it was built that makes it the best home I could have living in the city. This picture (not taken by me, but by the Denver Examiner), could have been taken practically next door to me.


Having this stretch of wilderness has what some people consider a "down" side to the neighborhood, but to me, it's wonderful. What people don't like is the wildlife the nature brings. Actually, these animals were probably here long before the houses. We have foxes, coyote, deer, raccoons, squirrels, crows, birds of all types really, and the occassional mountain lion. There is also a pond just on the other side of the creek where geese live all year long, and are most likely prey to some of the other animals.


My next door neighbor complained of the raccoons coming in her house and making a mess last summer, and finally trapped him/her and took the raccoon to the humane society. This was upsetting to me, because it was at the beginning of the summer, and she could have been making orphans of some baby raccoons. If it had been my house the raccoons were coming into, I would have closed off the cat door for a while. Can't control what other people do though...



I haven't been worried about the fox population, because in one of the neighborhood news papers, they had a picture of a cat and fox laying in the sun together one time. I actually saw a couple of foxes last summer in front of my house, that was about sunrise. They're so graceful and pretty, and there have been no reports of them doing any harm to anyone except for the occassional squirrel, (which in my opinion is a public service).




My husband saw a small mountain lion over by the creek last year. I don't think she wanted to be there though, she must have been following the creek and lost track of time or something. I'm sure she went back to the foothills pretty quickly, as they don't really want to be around cities or people.



The deer aren't that common, because we haven't had any harsh winters lately, so they aren't short of food in the foothills. I do remember one year the elk were coming down into the towns in huge numbers because they were starving. That's one good thing to say about mild winters, good for the animals. The city complains about having to use water reserves though.

The only scary thing lately with the wildlife is the coyotes. They have had no fear of people the last couple of years, and have even attacked a couple of times. People who need to worry about them the most are people with dogs. Apparently, the coyotes are attracted to the dogs when people are out walking them. Many coyote have been spotted in our neighborhood the last couple years, but no attacks right here.

That brings me to my weekend project (finally, you say?) I want my cat family to be able to actually "be" cats and get to go outside and play during the summer, but I also need for them to be safe. We have rules, and a curfew, but sometimes they forget, and stay out too long, or wander too far.




The first day of the season I allow them out is on their birthday. This year, they were all very good about staying close, and coming home on time for the first 3 days. Then yesterday, I had a major panic attack with Shirley. She is supposed to be home by 11:00am, but she not only didn't come home on time, I didn't see her all day. By about 5:30 or so, I started walking the neighborhood and talking to people. By 6:30, I was sure something terrible had happened. I called the dumb friends and when I found them closed for the day, went online to their site and started looking at their "found" animals from yesterday. They had a cat that looked very much like Shirley, so much so that I was sure it must be her. That should have brought relief, to know she was safe at least, but it didn't, because Shirley has asthma and has a lot attacks she takes pills for.

I was a crazy cat lady for sure leaving 2 messages at the dumb friends asking them to call me back and let me know if it was Shirley they had, and if so, she needs her pills. Nobody called back, and I decided they need me to work there and be the "soother", I could answer the phone and talk to people who are worried about their lost baby. Going to go tell them that sometime this week...but in the meantime, Shirley came home! She was fine, just hungry. All I can figure is she must have been trapped in someone's garage or something.



So the project this weekend is, TA DA! Found this site to make an enclosure for cats to stay in their own yard. This is the site: Cat Volunteer Resource Page And this is what the project is all about The project

And lastly, the picture of the plan:



I am pretty sure I can reach the bottom part of the chicken wire, and love working a staple gun, so looking forward to doing this tomorrow. Best of all, my babies will be able to go outside again and be safe while being there :)

Yes, I am one of those...


I admit it, I am a crazy cat lady. Everybody knows how much I love cats, (I normally don't even use the word "cat", because they are really babies to me. One of my aunts named this cat after me because she said her eyes reminded her of my eyes. I can't see the eyes in the picture she sent, so don't know how true it is. I assume the cat has light grey eyes though...


My very first cat was a family cat that my younger brother and sister coaxed into living with us. He was neglected and wild when he first came to live with us, but he also started my love of cats. Even back then, I realized cats are far superior to humans, and should indeed be worshiped the way the Egyptians did.








The first cat I decided was really my baby was this one, his name was Addison. He was the first to disappear and break my heart too. I only got to live with him a little over a year, but it made me very rigid with the next cat, who never got to leave the house his whole life.


I have a weekend project that has nothing to do with arts and crafts, but everything to do with my cat obsession. I have a cat family. The mama and her four babies. She had these babies practically on my lap 3 years ago, May 5. I never felt so honored in all my life! That she would trust me so much to want me totally involved with this from the very start. I barely left the couch the first 3 days of their lives, and instead, made a nest for the family next to where I normally sit, and guarded everything for mama Isabella so she could get a break once in a while.


Now that I have posted the background a little, the next post will be about my current project. It concerns this little one...

Tuesday, May 5

Experiment Results, not pretty...

I fired the flamingo experiment last night, and it doesn't work. The floral wire turned black, and the filgree bead base not only turned black, but one totally disentegrated.

So now we know...the armature has to be a wire made for high temperatures in order to work. These pieces were in a little box I built just for them, so they didn't ruin anything else in the kiln. Good thing!

The next post will be more cheerful, with pretty pictures ♥

Off to glaze today...

Saturday, May 2

Storque article

This is just a quick note to put in a link for the recent Storque article on Ceramics and Pottery. Great introduction for anyone who'd like to know a little about the process.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/reviews/ceramics-and-pottery-facts-and-fancies-part-1-3869/#comment-100360

Hey! What's taking you so long?

I'm not going to have any new work this coming week, and decided to blame it on this piece. Well, it's not really her fault, but she did contribute to my snails pace the last couple of days.

When I have a mermaid or lady on a piece, I make the head first, get the basic facial details done before attaching it loosely on the edge of the vase or bowl. The head of this mermaid was ready to attach to the little tray I was planning for her, when she popped off the pin I was using and landed on the mess of clay bits on the floor (am very messy as you can see in the pictures).

When I found her head, I didn't realize my fingers were wet, and I obliterated all the detail of her face, having to start over....so, I just attached her head the way it was and have been working on the detail from here.

As for no new work this week...I decided to just slow down, and enjoy myself. The flamingo experiments are finished, a few more plain frogs, basic vases waiting to be carved or decorated, and another lantern is almost done. I may be able to get these new things ready for listing before next weekend, but I'm not going to be in a panic if I don't.

Wednesday, April 29

More Experimenting


Haven't gotten the clay mess out yet today, because I was playing around with a new experiment first. I need to make the flamingo sculpture stronger somehow, but don't think I can skip the wire armature. Late one night, I thought of using the tiny floral wire instead of the armature wire that is meant for firing (in the right of the picture is the kind of wire made for kiln firing), because it would give me more room for clay, and is also 100 times easier to form into shapes.

The other part of the idea was to use a large metal bead cap for the base of the flower frog. Of course, I couldn't find one in my junk that was the right size, but did find these filigree beads :) Using pliers, tweezers, pin tool, and lots of squishing around of the metal, I finally got one in half ♥

So my plan now is, to build the clay around them, (oh...there is a third little flamingo made onto a regular clay base that's already been fired. this part of the experiment is just to see what happens with the green floral wire), I will build a box around these pieces in the kiln so that if anything weird happens by using non-firing metal armatures, nothing else in the kiln that day will know about it :)

Sorry the picture is not that good, did not take the time to set up all the photo stuff. Going to get out the clay and move this project along now...

Tuesday, April 28

Such a thrill to see...

It is such a thrill to see yourself talked about, or see a picture of what happens to your work in the new home. Today I'm going to talk about two very special women who have done this for me. I am signed up for google alerts, and that means when my name (Mostly Art) shows up some where, google sends me a link to go see what it is.

The first time it happened was a picture from Stephanie, PetitPlat, with this picture she had all set up with holiday flair...




Stephanie makes incredible food and decor items herself, as you can see in this picture. You can learn more about her on her fabulous website her shop on Etsy her gallery on CDHM and various other sites you can find in the profiles of these sites.


All of the work in this photograph was done by Stephanie except for the tiny black and white vase that she bought from me. If you go nowhere else, in these links, at least be sure to see her website, http://www.petitplat.110mb.com/ because it is really nice, and has a very good representation of her work.



The second special person I would like to talk about today is Hanna, who has the absolute best blog I have ever been absorbed into! I started reading a few days ago, and it has kept me wanting to read more and more backward, like a really good book you can't put down, but must if you want to get anything done that day.



Her blog has gotten many awards, they are all over the place! And each and every award she gets for this blog is truly earned! I will put the link in here now, but hope you don't go and get lost in it until after reading the rest of my post today :::smiling::: Will put it in again at the end too... Hanna's blog (it is also on the side of this blog in the list of blogs I collected to keep up with)




Here are the first two pictures that google told me about, after this, I have seen them on my own before google told me.







It was so exciting to see my little vases in room settings, just like a life-size house! Aren't her rooms and furnishings fabulous? It looks so cozy, like I would just love living in these rooms.


She puts so much thought into every little detail, and much of this work is her own. When you read her blog, you will see her projects as they go a long. If you haven't caught the miniature bug yet, Hanna will draw you in! ♥



The second two pictures are fairly recent, like in the past few days or week. It is still the same big, exciting thrill to see my work in settings though! Thank you so much Hanna, for doing these pictures, and writing your blog. I love all of this ♥





Hanna's blog link again is: http://hannajaleijona.blogspot.com/ make sure you don't have to be anywhere anytime soon, you will not want to stop reading once you start!

Now I must go and get some work done today too...